BORN TO BE WILD - Five men get their motor runnin'

When young boys dream of their future lives, you can bet they fall into a few categories: baseball player, president, fireman. But for others, the idea of whipping around a track at breakneck speeds in their very own racecar sounds like the perfect pursuit. Fast forward 20- or 30-odd years and careers, kids, wives and countless other commitments put those prospects well out of reach. But for five Doylestown men and lifelong motorheads, this summer, the dreams of their childhood will be fulfilled – sort of.

“We’re a team of financial advisors and attorneys,” says Scott Stencler, who, by day, commands a desk at Wealth Advisory Services in town rather than a steering wheel. “The biggest thing we have in common is a love of cars and speed.” Later this month, Stencler, along with Mike Carr, an attorney at Eastburn and Gray, and Thomas Brolle, a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, will take to the track at the 24 Hours of LeMons, held July 24 and 25 at the Stafford Motor Speedway in Stafford Springs, Ct. However, it may not be quite what you’re expecting. The 24 Hours of LeMons is a two-day endurance race but also serves as a whimsical take on the historic 24 Hours of Le Mans road race, held yearly in France. To qualify for the LeMons, there’s one important caveat: cars must cost less than $500 to purchase and restore to a drivable condition. Perhaps a lighthearted attitude is one more necessity. “We’re not going to take ourselves too seriously,” says Stencler. “People are there to have a great time.”

But even beyond some handiness with a wrench and the ability to laugh at one’s self, it takes some irreverence as well. “They have to think you’re crazy enough to be part of this fraternity,” says Carr. Due in part to the amount of entries the race’s organizers receive and in order to make sure it’s as outlandish an event as you’ll ever see, there’s actually a screening process. To satisfy the judges, the local team came up with idea of styling their team around the endearingly offbeat characters from the movie “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.”

Doylestown’s “Channel 4 News Team” consists of four drivers and one pit crewmember, who will double as the team’s grillmaster. They will compete against as many as 100 other teams for bragging rights and a four-figure cash prize awarded entirely in bags of nickels. “Most people who hear about this are immediately frightened,” says Brolle, with a laugh.

For everyone involved, the events serves as a low cost way to get into racing, a lifelong passion for every team member. “We’re starting on the very bottom rung of the racing ladder with this,” says Carr. Stencler adds, “We don’t have $20 million. This an affordable race that average people like us can take part in.”

And while the race is obviously cost-effective, coming under the spending limit for the vehicle can prove quite the challenge. “If you show up with a car they think cost more than the $500, they pay you back the money and crush your car on the spot,” says Stencler. They looked for qualifying junkers on eBay but often had to restart their search every time the bidding exceeded the paltry allowance LeMons imposes. “ The ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program didn’t help us much either,” says Brolle.

The team eventually settled on a 1987 Audi 4000. They picked up the car in Virginia last winter and convinced themselves that, if it survived the drive, it was probably reliable enough for their maniacal purposes. Donning mechanic’s coveralls, the friends spent six months making the Audi raceworthy. Stencler was appointed “master mechanic” early on and oversaw the labor-intensive refurbishing process. “We’re always kind of in awe at the end of the day that this thing works,” he says.

Currently, the Audi waits for its spotlight to come in Stencler’s garage, where the technical and aesthetic finishing work will continue right up until race time. “We aren’t above painting the car with a roller,” Tom warns, with a smirk. Stencler says the Audi would be entirely street legal if he put the taillights and windows back in. “I foresee our biggest challenge being to get back in the race after it breaks down… repeatedly” says Stencler, with an air of ironic fatalism.

Still, for all the fun to be had, racing cars at high speeds has an inherent air of danger. In response, the 24 Hours of LeMons enforces a strict inspection to ensure the safety of its participants. The team outfitted their racer with roll bars and roughly $1,000 worth of other safety precautions. They even purchased expensive collision helmets and full-body racing suits for themselves. “This is actually the most expensive cheap race you’ll ever compete in,” says Carr. “The bulk of our budget didn’t go towards the vehicle. That was the cheapest part.”

The team is looking at this year’s race as a test run for future escapades. “We want the car to survive, so we can do this again,” says Stencler. But beyond mere racing, the idea serves as both a social and potentially charitable endeavor. “We realized that there is a whole community of likeminded idiots out there,” says Carr. “We want to convert others over to our sense of fun, or, as some would say, our sense of insanity.” The racers also hope to turn their hobby into an opportunity to launch fundraising events that would benefit the Travis Manion Foundation and other local charities. “We’d love to make this a Doylestown thing,” adds Stencler.

Go online at 24hoursoflemons.com